Horrible childbirth stories

BRINGING a child into the world can be a beautiful and joyous thing, but sometimes the birth process comes with serious complications. For many women, giving birth does not happen the way they had been visualising it for nine months, and complications during and after childbirth can range from mild to horrifyingly dangerous. What should be a celebratory moment can turn into a nightmare, and what should bring joy can bring devastating sadness instead. All Woman asked some courageous mothers to share their disastrous childbirth experiences.

Dianne M, 33:

After my C-section I experienced some bleeding which the doctors managed to stop. About a week and a half after leaving the hospital, I starting bleeding heavily again, this time with clots. It gradually got worse. At the hospital they realised that my blood pressure was abnormally high. I did some tests and they suspected post-partum preeclampsia. I didn’t know much about the condition and I was really worried. No one could tell me that I wasn’t going to die from all that bleeding and pain. After my recovery, I went into counselling.

Pauline C, 50:

I was young and thought I was having contractions so I went to the hospital. The nurses made a mistake with calculating my dilation. They were very rude to me the entire time and were passing mean comments. Hours after the bullying, my water broke and I gave birth. I thought the baby would never come out. I was left with a tearing, and even after that the nurses were still being bullies. I think the mistreatment scarred me more than the actual delivery process.

Grace F, 42:

Years before my baby was born, a doctor told me I couldn’t have children. I accepted it and put my energy into other things. My pregnancy was therefore a big surprise. I went the extra mile during my pregnancy — taking extra care, never missing a doctor’s appointment, only for the doctors to tell me after my baby was born that she had a heart problem. To say I was distraught would be an understatement. I had totally given up on having a child, then she popped up without warning, only to be sick and maybe even to die. I started to question God. I asked Him why give me a child that wouldn’t live past a few weeks? Thankfully she’s still alive today, and healthy too.

Kim K, 28:

My pregnancy was good. I paid regular visits to my doctor and followed all instructions. Even being in labour wasn’t as horrible as I’d been led to believe. I pushed and they said it was a girl. Then the place was silent except for shuffling noises. In my tired state I remembered that babies are supposed to cry or something. But I didn’t hear her cries because my baby was dead. I’m still mourning my baby. I don’t know if I will ever get over losing her.

Nicole A, 35:

I have three children, but one is deceased. The last child, my daughter, gave me a warm time. She came a week early and it caught me by surprise. I was sleeping and felt slight cramps and thought she was just moving around. Anyway, the cramps got worse and I realised I was in labour. I was home alone with my teenage sister who couldn’t drive. I remember being in horrible pain and my sister called the police, but they said they couldn’t help. We called the public ambulance and were being given the runaround, so we called the police again and explained what was happening. They came to investigate, after which they called the ambulance. By the time we hung up the phone I felt a pressure at the opening of my vagina. I cut away the crotch of my underwear and in less than a second my daughter flew out on the carpet, still in the sac. My sister picked her up and sat on the floor with me until the ambulance showed up an hour later. They drove me to the hospital with the baby in aluminium foil between my legs, umbilical cord uncut, and the afterbirth still inside me. When we got to the hospital, the nurses said both my daughter and I were lucky to have survived as the baby was cold and the afterbirth was still inside me attached to the umbilical cord, which could have caused bacterial infections.

Susan GW, 24:

I went to the hospital ready to push, breathing and managing the pain well, but after 12 hours dilated at 4 cm and several bags of drip, I knew something was wrong, because other women had received the same drip and dilated quickly, pushed, and had their babies before me. I didn’t dilate past 4 cm. In the wee hours of the morning when they rushed me to the operating room I just saw a whole bunch of student doctors appear. Twelve people were doing one C-section, one holding the suction tube, asking where the bladder was. I wanted to run off the bed. They were saying I was a special case as they didn’t know why I wasn’t having the baby after so many hours and I wasn’t dilating. The baby’s oxygen was cut and the umbilical cord was wrapped around the child’s head twice. Also he could not come down into the cervix and we were both in distress. He almost died. At one point I bawled out ‘Jesus, help!’, and I started praying out loud and all the doctors and midwives were in a corner whispering. We remained in the hospital for a while afterwards. But the glory belongs to God.

Deborah L, 42:

I was in labour for 26 hours and I kept going in and out of consciousness. I was in so much pain that I started tearing out my hair. I was put to sleep and a C-section was done. When I woke up the sides of my hair were gone and the middle was clean like my hand middle. I promised my husband, “No more children”, and I have lived up to it. One child only, just because of that experience.